Cavs/Magic Game 5 Recap

and if anything, it’s gortat and battie that should put the hammer down on bron. dwight has to stay in the game for the magic. how about trying to contest the shot w/o going body to body in the air with the player. dwight rarely fouls with his arms but he often makes contact with the body. fair or not that has always been a foul. oyou know what was NOT a foul? when he blocked lebron’s 3 from behing in game 3 or 4. that was a legitimate blow call that fouled him out.

I just don’t think the stars of today want to win badly enough. Not to the point where they will foul the sh*t out of the opposing superstar on a hard play to send a message. It doesn’t end there either. One of the things that separated Jordan, in my opinion was his competitiveness. All star players are competitive, but his was just on another level. He would have dunked on him moms to win. Or fouled the sh*t out of Juanita…(I’m talking about ON the court this time)

Look, we all know Shaq’s Lakers/Michael’s Bulls got the benefit of a ton of calls collectivley but none of us that saw all of them firsthand would never say they were underserving champs. If the Lakers or te Cavs were to win, besides their fanbases, there’d be a ton of people questioning the validity of that title due to the orrid reffing and the perceived favortism both of those squads get.

*horrid

And that would be unfair to both of them too, regardless if their was any truth behind it.

Of course it is. But thats why I referenced the only other players in the Ls history thatId put on that slope, Wilt and Shaq. Everyone else are mere mortals and should be called accordingly.

myles, i couldn’t disagree more. a foul is a foul. it doesn’t matter if it knocks you on your a– or not. a very good example of this, as pointed by jvg, was when danthay jones pushed kobe from behind with two hands. that would have been an automatic ejection and a one-game suspension if kobe had gotten hurt. you don’t call the ‘effect’ the foul has on someone but the foul itself. rules are meant to be as objective as possible. tony parker shouldn’t get more calls than players of his caliber because he ends up in the 5th row after every drive.

Also, I think attacking the rim against the Magic is a fair tactic because it exploits their personnel the samae way that middle pick and rooll exploits Cleveland’s personnel. Dwight is literally the only guy on their team who protects the paint. Shard and Hedo give their team a huge edge on offense but since they are both allergic to the paint, Cleveland can get an advantage by attcaking the paint, and therefore attacking Dwight (who really isn’t that great at challenging shots w/o fouling) Its just strategy.

Howard IS overrated. On all sides. But, he is too big, strong and athletic to not be great; he definitely has the potential if he decides to actually build a good post game.

I mean that’s the type of basketball that makes tempers flare and had shaq swinging on brad miller.

I can agree with you Myles in the sense that Bron is essentially gaming the system with some of these late game drives. He’s creating situations where the defense has to basically foul or get dunked on. But he didn’t write the rules. Its just like players who over utilize the pump fake to make a player leave thier feet before leasning in for the contact and hositing an awkward shot that has almost no chance of going in. “Creating contact” happens all over th eplace in the L. Its no different than when Wade summarily abused Erika Dampier in the Finals. Its just more pronounced. And its Lebron.

Orlando in 6!

I know from about 450 games or so first hand viewing experience that Dwyane is doing the same things, just to smaller defenders, night in and night out. It’s how he plays. He’s rarely on the recieving end of offensive foul calls cause he’s pretty slick with it nad he’s perfected the draw contact game. Lebrons’s are so overstate3d ’cause he’s so big. It’s hard to fault the dude for the way he get’s into the lane, I think it’s just because he’s able to do it at that size and really no one else, beside’s Magic, had the size and the ability to get into the lane with such ease, only Lebron is like Magic on HGH.

My primary point is this: If Dwight’s gonna get called for fouls regardless, why not get his money’s worth? If you’re gonna get accused of some sh*t (and convicted for it), you may as well do some sh*t. Instead of trying to go up straight and risk an and-1, come down HARD and make sure that shot gets nowhere near the rim.

myles, so not only do you want the defenders to not get called for fouls on bron that other weaker players would get… you also want the fouls to be called on him? i’ve rarely seen guys in position beating bron to a spot so where’s your offensive foul?

I here you Russ, except I don’t think he should go specifically for hard fouls. But he shouldn’t be trying to AVOID fouls in situations that are almost always going to result in a foul, ie coming late across the lane to challenge at the rim. He should be going for the blocked shot, really hard, so if he misses it will result in FTs. Right now, he’s on the fence. Trying to challenge Bron’s drives but not trying to block the shot, purposefully foul, or take the charge.

Rereading you comment I think we agree, Russ.

I can see it now: My grandkids on my lap, saying, “Papa, tell us again about the ’09 Conference Finals.” Me putting in my dentures and saying, “Well, kids, that Bill Spooner, I’ll never forget what he did in Game 5…”

i’ll even go further and say that if bron was playing the 4, this discussion doesn’t happen. we would ‘expect’ him to be physically dominating and use his strength to score. we’re just not used of a wing applying those physical qualities to driving to the hole. it doesn’t fit the mold.

Doing my best to reflect the vibe of the room, ciolkstar.

Well, just as I figured, the Cavs won game 5. But, they choked away a big first half lead, and at one point I thought the Magic were going to pull off the comeback and put them out in 5. But, as ciolkstar said, LeBron, at the end of a game, with his size, forces his way to rim and either dunks or gets fouled or does both. That makes him twice harder to guard, when hes 6 foot 8 and has the strength of an NBA center, but the speed and handle of an NBA point guard. I still believe though, that the Magic will close this thing out in 6 games, cause’ I just dont think LeBron’s supporting cast will play nearly as good at Orlando as they did last night, but, they definately will have a chance if Mo Willaims continue to play the way he did last night, the way hes capable of playing, they can push this to a 7th game, and anything can happen in a game 7. It will be very interesting to see what happens though. If the Cavs find a way to win game 6, I will go out on a limb and say they will pull off the comeback and take the series in 7.

Make sure to play the Wyclef song in the background, Jones.

Guantanamera?

Bubblegoose?